Jeet Heer has mastered the art of confidently using pretentious words he doesn't understand, knowing that most people will be too intimidated to challenge him and risk looking stupid. But some of us know what gestalt means, and that ain't it.
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Replying to @SousPlage @agraybee
I was writing in English, not German. It's fairly common for words to shift meaning as they over time, especially if they move across languages. Would recommend Steven Pinker's The Language Instinct if this confuses you.
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As someone w/ an advanced degree in Ling, I would not necessarily recommend that book. Also, if you read beyond that book, you might realize that linguistic shifts aren’t universally applied between popular language use & more esoteric borrowings from academiapic.twitter.com/hgByak3voL
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With all due respect, I'm going to trust Noam Chomsky, who endorsed the book and knows a thing or two about linguistics, over you.
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Setting aside basic issues that (a) Chomsky's "endorsement" of the book was 25 years ago, (b) it was not a straightforward endorsement, (c) Chomsky's views have changed significantly since then, and (d) linguistics has changed significantly since then... 1/2
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Sigh. What an endless game of moving the goal post. Is my use of "gestalt" within normal English dictionary meaning? Yes. Does knowing German give authority for judging English usage? No. Is Language Instinct a good Chomsky endorsed popular introduction to linguistics? Yes.
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If the word has long standing English meanings and is used in an English sentence, the German meaning is of only antiquarian interest. With all respect to your knowledge of German, Merriam-Webster & Pauline Kael are better guides than you.
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Replying to @SousPlage @HeerJeet and
... because
@HeerJeet doesn’t seem to get that natural English language competence is the core claim for assessment of conventions of use, unless you take a view that privileges linguists, in which case it’s clear the actual graduate-degree-havers are right.2 replies 0 retweets 4 likes - Show replies
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